Probation officer accused of preying upon nine women he supervised

Eric Alzafari, 42, was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault, seven counts of official oppression and two counts of sexual contact or intercourse with a supervised person on Dec. 27.

Photo: Galveston County Sheriff's Office

Galveston County probation officer Eric Alzafari used his power in the job to sexually harass or assault nine women under his supervision, according to multiple newly released criminal complaints.

Alzafari leveraged waivers of probation fees, drug testing or community service in exchange for nonconsensual sex acts, police allege in the court documents. They also allege he directly threatened one of the women with prison time if she did not let him perform a sex act on her or pay a fine.

That woman told investigators she “was afraid of going to prison.” Another said she did what Alzafari directed her to do because “a probation officer can make your life easy or a living hell,” according to the complaints.

Alzafari, 42, was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault, seven counts of official oppression and two counts of sexual contact or intercourse with a supervised person on Dec. 27.

The court documents show an extensive investigation into Alzafari’s conduct began in September, when one of his probationers gave a letter detailing the alleged abuse to a female court liaison officer. The officer gave the letter to two female supervisors, who had already received a similar complaint from another probationer. The Galveston County Community Supervision and Corrections Department administration was made aware of the allegations at that point.

Alzafari denied the allegations when he was interviewed by Galveston County Sheriff’s Office detectives on Oct. 30. He admitted that he contacted some probationers on his personal cellphone.

Investigators extracted data from Alzafari’s cellphone and began reaching out to numbers that matched those of the women on probation in his caseload, according to the complaints. The cases mostly related to mental health and substance abuse.

Some of the women reported that Alzafari sexually harassed them for years in both his Texas City and Galveston offices. Many said Alzafari told them he would get a judge to waive the $60 probation fees required for each visit if they gave up “sexual favors.”

The women told investigators they didn’t have jobs after they got out of jail and were afraid their probation would be revoked if they did not find a way to make the payments. In one case, according to the complaints, a woman said that Alzafari outright threatened her with jail time if she didn’t pay the fees either with money or sex acts.

The filings say two women told detectives Alzafari said he would not conduct a drug test on them if they performed sex acts on him. One woman said Alzafari told her “he was talking to the judge to pay off the hours instead of actually doing … community service hours and he was racking up a lot of favors from her,” the complaint says.

Alzafari was suspended following the investigation. He was subsequently fired.

Alzafari was released on a $20,000 bond, the records indicate. He is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 28.

Hannah Dellinger is a Hearst Journalism Fellow covering general assignments for the Houston Chronicle.

Her fellowship began at the Greenwich Time.

Before starting the fellowship, Hannah worked as a breaking news and crime reporter at the Frederick News-Post in Maryland. Prior to that, she worked for large weekly newspapers in Virginia, covering crime for two years and education for three.

When she’s not working, Hannah spends as much time as possible outdoors with her 100-pound German Shepherd.